Goldberg gets a break

Compassion is a marvelous thing. But the federal judge who chose to give convicted swindler Richard Goldberg an early release from prison gives compassion a bad name.
Goldberg deserves only as much consideration as he gave his victims, which was none. In California, there are men serving life terms in prison for minor thefts by virtue of that state's three-strike law. An argument can be made for showing some compassion to those criminals. For the most part they are undereducated, unskilled, substance-addicted, often homeless and generally living hand-to-mouth.
Goldberg, on the other hand, was well educated, a successful lawyer, respected in his community and his profession. And yet he stole time and time again, in gouts of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And from whom did he steal? From his clients. From people who came to him, a lawyer who specialized in medical malpractice cases, in their time of need and placed their trust in him. He stole from widows and orphans and parents who had watched their children die.
A callous criminal
And why did he steal? To support an obscenely flamboyant lifestyle. To keep himself in fur coats and custom suits, to fill his garages with Rolls-Royce and Ferrari automobiles, to pay for a private jet plane. While he was defrauding his clients, at least one of whom is in a wheelchair, his classic car collection grew to number 51.
And yet, this unprincipled thief was released from federal prison four months early because an assistant U.S. attorney said he had cooperated with authorities in other cases, and U.S. Judge Dan Aaron Polster agreed. Goldberg served 45 months in prison, one for every $100,000 that he admitted to stealing from his clients.
Fortunately, Goldberg is not free and his legal problems are not over.
He still faces a 21-month stretch in the Mahoning County Jail for contempt of court, and that's where he is now. And he is scheduled to be tried in January in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for multiple counts of forgery, theft and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
If there's any justice, it will be many years before Richard Goldberg gets to walk free.